WAGM-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Presque Isle, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS, Fox, and The CW Plus.
The two stations share studios on Brewer Road in Presque Isle; WAGM-TV's transmitter is located on the northern section of Mars Hill Mountain among the wind turbines.
[6] However, in practice, as an affiliate of all the big three networks, WAGM cherry-picked the most popular programs for its prime time lineup.
Given increasing availability of cable and satellite television in rural Aroostook County, the necessity to carry programming from multiple networks decreased.
[15] The arrangement ended when CBS obtained the American Football Conference contract in 1998; as a result, Fox programming was provided to the Presque Isle area via Foxnet, and it remained that way until September 2006.
WAGM also aired some UPN programming during late nights and weekends from 1995 until 2006 when that network closed and merged with The WB to form The CW.
The station moved its transmitter site in 1999 to the summit of Big Rock ski resort on Mars Hill Mountain's southwestern face.
WAGM is seen across Western New Brunswick in Canada and can be picked up over-the-air a few miles outside of Fredericton city limits in communities such as Keswick Ridge.
In February 2017, Gray announced that it would purchase Bangor's WABI-TV from Diversified Communications with the transaction expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 pending FCC approval.
Foxnet was originally scheduled to cease operations on September 1, but the shutdown was postponed to allow WAGM time to set up the service.
Despite this, the CBS feed was still the main signal, as it was the only one broadcast in HD, and the one that continued to be available on analog TV until its end in 2009.
WAGM's NewsSource 8 broadcasts have routinely ranked as the highest-rated local newscasts in the United States based on Nielsen market share.
The station serves a large area but its primary market is Aroostook County which is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
Given the station's transmitter location in close proximity to Canada, it also covers news and weather in Western New Brunswick.
Current Chief Meteorologist Ted Shapiro has been with WAGM since being ousted from Bangor's WVII when that station axed its weather department and outsourced forecasting segments to AccuWeather in State College, Pennsylvania.
On April 11, 2009, due to a decrease in sponsorship, increased preemptions from network sports coverage, and financial reasons, WAGM stopped airing a Saturday night newscast at 6.
The station's signal is multiplexed: A translator signal, W16DA-D in Fort Kent, changed its call letters to WWPI-LD on June 3, 2019, after Gray Television filed with the FCC on May 21 for a construction permit to move the translator's city of license from Fort Kent to Presque Isle (the FCC granted that CP on August 7).